Special Delivery

Although the RIAA, record companies and their apologists complain about the decline in the music industry and many are buying into that notion. This is not true. What is true is that the little plastic disc industry is declining significantly. The rest of the music industry is doing fine (concerts, instrument sales, etc.). In fact, more people are creating more music than ever before.

Despite the significant decline in CD sales, a number of artists are putting out some high-priced CD packages. They realize that in a world of free, perfect copies, selling music only isn't really a great business to be in. So these artists are providing some extra value, they are giving fans a reason to buy their music.

Mike Masnick (wikipedia) has a simple formula for artists to make money in the music industry. CwF + RtB = $$$. Connect with Fans plus Reason to Buy = Profits. In this recent presentation, Masnick discusses this approach to the music industry.

Here are some examples of CD packages that have been recently released. Many of these artists are working with TopSpin, a company that helps artists better connect with fans.